


Shell Cottage

by devilsnare_lumos



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley Fluff, Love, Romance, Shell Cottage (Harry Potter), The Deathly Hallows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 06:53:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30034758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilsnare_lumos/pseuds/devilsnare_lumos
Summary: The Weasley's decide the time has come for them to go into hiding. While Molly and Arthur decide to stay at Muriel's, the Twins and Ginny choose to go with Bill to his and Fleur's new home. A few days into their stay, some unexpected guests show up. This wasn't how Ginny imagined she'd reunite with Harry. Hinny One Shot
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Kudos: 14





	Shell Cottage

**Author's Note:**

> okay this is my first fanfic, i hope it isn't too shitty and if anyone reads this, i hope you enjoy and kudos it. thanks

Taking one last look at her room, Ginny picked up her school trunk, now vacant of textbooks and filled with her most prized possessions and half of her wardrobe. Leaving the Burrow for an uncertain amount of time felt surreal, she couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her home was no longer safe and she was being forced to leave on such short notice.

Upon arriving in the living room, Ginny saw she was the last one there. Her parents and three of her brothers were already waiting. The twins and her parents had their trunks and rucksacks accompanying them while Bill held a rusted wrench she knew was a portkey to Shell Cottage and an old umbrella in the other hand which she knew to be a portkey to Aunt Muriel's home.

"Got everything you need, Ginny?" Arthur asked nervously, feigning a smile.

"Yeah, only the essentials and a few things that hold sentimental value."

"Alright, Aunt Muriel already has her spare room set up for you two and Fleur should be just about done by now setting the living room up for the twins and one of the spare rooms for Ginny," Bill started, facing his parents, before turning to Ginny. "Are you sure you want to stay with Fleur and me? The last thing I need right about now is for you two to be bickering back and forth all day long."

"Don't worry, Bill, I know how to behave myself. Besides, I've actually started to grow fond of Phlegm."

"Don't call her that," Bill told her, handing the umbrella to Arthur.

"Relax, I'm not saying it with malice," Ginny replied, adjusting her rucksack over her left shoulder.

Molly and Arthur hugged each of their children good-bye, reminded them to stay within the Fidelius Charm at Shell Cottage, then in the blink of an eye, disappeared along with the old umbrella.

"Alright, you lot, grab on."  
\-------------------------------------------  
Ginny sat down on the small twin sized bed positioned against the wall in what would be her room from now until who knew when. The spare bedroom she'd been given was only a little smaller than her bedroom back in the Burrow. It had a window facing the ocean on the wall opposite the bed. Her trunk lay open in front of the small closet provided to her and half of the clothes she'd brought with her were already placed inside the cabinet or hung up on the rack of the small closet.

She reached into her rucksack and pulled out a black hoodie that didn't belong to her and put it on. It wasn't her size, she had to roll up the sleeves to use her hands, and it had a hole an inch in diameter on the right shoulder. Nonetheless, she treasured it and wore it often. The hoodie belonged to Harry, her ex-boyfriend. She hoped she wasn't wasting her time thinking of him, hoped wherever he was, he might still think of her as well. It had been months since they'd received any news of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Even then, the last they'd heard of them was when they'd broke into the Ministry of Magic and no one knew why.

"Ginny, dinner's ready," George called from the door. Ginny nodded and he left. Sighing, Ginny got up and made her way down the stairs into the dining room where her brothers and sister-in-law were all seated. She took the seat next to Fred, then looked up and thanked Fleur for the meal.

After the meal, which consisted of the twins being themselves and making endless jokes along with Fleur explaining to them why she preferred France to England, Ginny excused herself and went up to her new room. She sat down on the bed and stared out of the window, somewhere out there, Luna was somewhere, hopefully safe. Hogwarts was likely in another direction, harboring within its walls many kids who would be better off back in their homes. And even more uncertainly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were somewhere out there, hopefully not separated, and, hopefully, they were safe, not in a near death situation as they frequently found themselves to be in.  
\------------------------------------------------  
A few days into the stay at Shell Cottage, Ginny sat on the porch. She had taken a liking to sitting there for as long as the sun was still in the sky, admiring the nearby ocean and reading. There weren't many things to do in Shell Cottage. Apart from helping with chores around the house, there were only so many other things one could do to keep occupied. With the restrictions of being in hiding and having to stay within the limits of the Fidelius Charm, Ginny could really only sit on the porch, play in the sand, or help the twins continue their business via owl order. She would have gladly helped the twins, but she didn't really feel like helping them after they had slipped a new variant of a Nosebleed Nougat into her morning bowl of oatmeal on their third day there.

Pulling her legs up into the chair she sat in, Ginny closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, savoring the salty smell of the ocean. She was starting to come to terms with how boring life had suddenly become. Part of her longed for those blissful days at the end of her 5th year, where she had spent many hours exploring the castle and grounds with her closest friends, or in solitary parts of the castle she'd never known about with Harry, who always seemed to have a new spot for them to go to. Another part of her wished to return to the corrupt Hogwarts she'd abandoned a few weeks prior, to continue leading the rebellion against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters ravaging the school and to protect the students who stood defenseless awaiting to have the Cruciatus Curse used on them for the Carrow's amusement. However, there was a sliver of her that decided to make the best of the situation and enjoy the "vacation" that was currently being forced on her, no matter how much she craved to be doing something actively against You-Know-Who in the time it took the Golden Trio to do whatever they had to do to finish the fight and end the war. 

A loud crack sounded through the air, scaring Ginny and drawing the attention of her brothers inside. Before she could search for the source of the sound, Bill and the twins were already rushing out and looking towards the ocean. She peered around Fred and was surprised to see three people standing near the shore. Quickly, she realized she could identify the three people and noticed a house-elf accompanying them.

"Luna!" Ginny called out, pushing past the three of her brothers, all of which had their wands drawn and pointed at the quartet.

"Hello, Ginny," Replied Luna, her voice its normal dreamy and indifferent tone, though her face clearly showed the excitement of seeing her close friend.

Before Ginny could make it a few feet passed her brothers, she felt one of them grab onto her shoulder and hold her back.

"Who are you? How did you get here? How do we know you aren't Death Eaters?" Bill called out, inching towards the group. The house-elf was the one who responded first.

"They can tell you how Dobby found them, but first Dobby must go and help Harry Potter and his other friends," the elf said, snapping its fingers and disappearing.

"Ginny, we were all being held captive in the Malfoy's house, or manor, I guess, when Harry and Ron were suddenly thrown into the dungeon with us," Luna began, talking in a more serious tone than Ginny was accustomed to hearing. "I'm not exactly sure how, but Harry somehow contacted Dobby and as a house-elf, he was able to apparate into the dungeon with us and Ron told him to bring us here. They should be arriving shortly and maybe then they can tell us exactly what happened," she finished, taking small steps towards the Weasleys.

"If you really are Luna, you should be able to tell me what class we were in during our second year when you tried to tell me nargles lured me into the Chamber of Secrets."

Luna smiled. "We were in Transfiguration of course. Professor McGonagall's classroom was the least likely to have nargles nearby to hear me warn you, Ginny."

Ginny ran forward and embraced Luna, barely letting herself believe she had finally turned up after having been pulled off the Hogwarts Express many months prior. Bill began to lead the other two people, Dean Thomas and Mr. Ollivander, towards Shell Cottage when a second, even louder crack sounded through the air. Looking around, Ginny quickly spotted the house-elf, Dobby, about fifty feet away along with three more people and what appeared to be a goblin.

But something was off.

The person closest to Dobby, having landed in the shallow water, rushed over to the elf and caught him as he fell. The black-haired person could be heard from where she stood, they seemed to be pleading. Ginny saw the other two people, one with a familiar head of bushy brown hair and the other with an even more familiar head of vibrant red hair huddled close together not far from where Dobby had collapsed into Harry's arms. Ginny began to walk toward them. As she neared, she caught a few of the words Harry had been shouting.

"No no no no no, Dobby please, Hermione'll have something, look at me, please no, not like this, please don't die..."

Ginny arrived a good ten feet away from Harry and Dobby, close enough to hear the elf give his last words.

"Harry...Potter."

Dobby's arm slid off his chest and hung limply at his side, his eyes stared without seeing. He had a large bloody mass on his chest, but the look on his face wasn't one of anguish and pain, rather it was one of delight and pride. He had died defending and protecting the wizard he cared for the most, the same one who freed and him and the first to treat him as an equal.

Raising her eyes a little higher, Ginny caught the look in Harry's face. He was trembling from head to toe, not only from being drenched in the cold ocean water, but from having been forced to witness another loved one die before his eyes. Even worse, this time, he had held them as the life left their body. Harry took in a few shaky breaths and Ginny saw a few tears escape his eyes, mingling with the ocean water that had dropped onto his face from his sopping hair and the specks of blood that had leaked from the slender cut on his cheek.

Ginny slowly walked over to Harry and knelt at his side, reaching over with her hand closing Dobby's open eyelids.

"There. Now he could be sleeping."

Having not noticed her prior to now, Harry looked up at her. She could detect many emotions swirling in his eyes, from the pain and grief of losing Dobby, to the relief and surprise at her being at his side.

"I want to bury him," Harry called out, looking away from Ginny. "Properly, without magic."

"Mate, I'm so sorry," called out a voice, one Ginny recognized as her brother's.

Harry tried to wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his soaked sweater to no avail. Sensing that he would sit there for hours with Dobby if he could, Ginny set aside the need to embrace him and hold him and instead placed her hand on his back and started to murmur for him to get up.

Slowly, Harry rose, still clutching Dobby tightly against himself. Once they were standing, Ginny began to lead him towards Shell Cottage, assuring him that Bill did have a spade or two for them to be able to bury Dobby.

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron walked towards the hills of sand behind the cottage, making sure not to stray off too far and in search of a place to put Dobby to rest. Eventually, they found a nice spot, where Harry and Ron began to dig, while Hermione held the bundle of blankets Ginny knew Dobby was wrapped in and she held the smoothest stone she could find that would serve as Dobby's tombstone.

After Harry and Ron dug in silence for a few minutes, Hermione slowly lowered Dobby's body into the grave. Together, the four started to push the sand back into the hole, until, eventually, the area lay flat. Ginny placed the stone on its side above where Dobby's head would be. After a message had been engraved on the stone, Ginny left, knowing she'd soon be followed by Ron and Hermione so Harry could say his final good-byes.

\------------------------------------------------  
It had been a few hours since the 7 unexpected guests had arrived at the cottage. By now, each had explained how they'd ended up in Malfoy Manor and how they had escaped. Bill and Fleur had made re-arrangements so that the remaining spare room would be shared between Ollivander and Griphook, the goblin. Fleur had gotten them both settled in with a curtain dividing them and giving them their privacy. Ginny no longer had the other spare room to herself. Instead, the small space was to be shared between three people; herself, Luna, and Hermione.

Night had fallen and most of the inhabitants of the cottage were more than glad to finally go to sleep. After the burial, Ginny had the chance to welcome Ron and Hermione to their new temporary home. They spoke for a while and only stopped when Harry had finally made his first appearance inside. To say Ginny was disappointed in his greeting was an understatement, the two had only shared a brief hug before Harry left to go speak to Bill and Fleur. Ginny knew it was selfish of her to want more, but she couldn't stop herself from longing to hold him tight, tell him all about how much she'd missed him, and take in his scent and the feel of his presence next to her. Everyone had gone to bed about a half-hour prior, but Ginny had stayed out in the porch, sitting in the rocking chair she'd claimed as her property the minute she and the twins declared they were bored. The cool breeze and crashing of waves calmed her anxiety as she thought of how close You-Know-Who had come to killing Harry, which would essentially guarantee his victory. She wished she could talk to him right then, but knew that he was definitely asleep. After all, he'd had a long day.

With her legs tucked under her bottom, Ginny began to rock the chair a little slower and closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep soon. A few minutes later, she heard the front door open and close, and her eyes flew open, the noise had startled her. She looked over and saw it was Harry who had come out. She offered him a small smile, which he returned, and then he took a seat on the top step of the porch, facing the dark ocean. He didn't say anything, nor had he done anything else to acknowledge her presence. She watched him for a few minutes, taking note of how his shoulders were slumped and how he kept unnaturally still.

"Ginny?"

She jumped slightly, caught off guard by his sudden desire to say something.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Come here," he said, turning around to look at her.

She got up off the comfort of the rocking chair and sat down next to Harry on the cold, sandy step. He grabbed her right hand with his left and smiled at her.

"I take it you didn't meet any veela while you were off doing whatever you were doing," Ginny said.

Harry laughed. "No, didn't get to see too many people in general, unless you count the people at the Ministry we saw when we snuck in."

"So that really was you? And to think I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. Should've known better than to trust Undesirable No.1, guess Umbridge was right."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, you really should've. Let me tell you a little secret, Ginny," Harry began, lowering his head to whisper into Ginny's ear. "We broke into the Ministry to steal something from Umbridge."

Ginny looked up at him with a grin, but quickly realized he wasn't kidding.

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope, but believe me, we had to get the thing we took back from her. Besides, Mundungus nicked it from Grimmauld Place anyway, so think of it as getting back what rightfully belongs to me."

"Well at least, you're not a heartless criminal then. Why did you come out here? Did it get too hot being crammed with four other people in the living room?"

"Well, it is uncomfortable in there, especially since there's the tension of me and Dean being your ex-boyfriends trying to sleep in the same room with three of your brothers, but I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I missed you," he whispered, rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand. "Every night, before I fell asleep, I would pull out the Marauder's Map and stare at your dot on it for a while like a complete creep. I realized how much you meant to me and I could almost feel a physical pain when I thought of you. You were probably busy with school and being a rebel who tried to steal the sword of Gryffindor from Snape's office, so I guess you didn't think of me often, but I had plenty of time to think while we were camping in the cold woods," Harry said, his gaze focused on his lap. Ginny laid her head on his shoulder, she felt butterflies in her stomach when Harry had said he'd missed her. It felt relieving to hear that she wasn't the only one.

"Clearly I did think of you often, why else would I have tried to steal the sword? We would've been able to get it if you had left the Map behind with us though. I also missed you like crazy. Especially since everywhere I turned in the castle, I would be reminded of a time we'd been there, or even back at the Burrow, everywhere I turned held memories with you in them."

"Like the time you stuck your elbow in the butter dish when I came over?" Harry asked teasingly, earning him a smack on the back of his head from Ginny.

"I'm kidding. But, we did end up getting the sword anyway. The sword you tried to steal is apparently a fake, seeing as it was moved to Bellatrix Lestrange's vault in Gringotts and the one we have is real. A doe patronus lead me to it in the forest, but Bellatrix thought we had stolen it from her vault after it was moved there from Hogwarts. Griphook confirmed to us, however, that we have the real sword and she has the fake."

"That's weird. How could whoever left the sword in the forest know you were there?"

"I don't know, but either way, we have it. Only problem is, now we're going to have to give it to Griphook if we want his help continuing our mission."

"Let me guess, you still can't tell me what it is you're doing, can you?"

"I can tell you a few more things now that you aren't returning to Hogwarts anytime soon, but I can't tell you everything. Essentially, we're hunting down some...things. The problem is we aren't certain how many of them there are, or where the ones we do know about are. But we've made some progress over the past few months. You-Know-Who probably thinks I'm just in hiding or on the run, and, hopefully, it stays that way. The last thing I need right about know is him realizing what we're doing."

"I thought you had no problem calling him Vol-" Ginny began but stopped when Harry quickly pressed his hand onto her mouth.

"Don't say it, don't you know the name's taboo?" He snapped, looking around to make sure no Death Eaters had arrived suddenly.

"Sorry, didn't know. Either way, it's great to see you again. I was starting to think it would be years before any of us got another glimpse of you."

"Maybe when we leave again, it could be years before we finish our mission. If we ever get the chance to finish at all. But, I wanna stay here at least for a little bit before we have to be on our way."

Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's middle and held him tight, she wanted to enjoy the time he spent there before he would disappear again with Ron and Hermione. She felt him wrap his arms around her as well.

"Just so you know, I was going to leave the Marauder's Map behind, but seeing as we had to leave during the wedding, there was no time to take it out of my rucksack to give it to you. I would give it to you now, but you're not returning to Hogwarts, so you wouldn't have more use for it than I would."

"You could give it to Luna, she still wants to go back to Hogwarts."

"That way she and Neville can continue the rebellion. Though I was worried about you, I was also proud when I'd got word about you continuing Dumbledore's Army. Scared shitless too, though. Then Ron left and- nevermind. I'll tell you later."

"Ron left?" asked Ginny, wondering what exactly they had been up to.

"Anyways," said Harry," it's nice here. Peaceful. Safe, even. Nothing to the places we've been."

They sat there in each other's embrace, occasionally striking up another conversation until the sun eventually rose, by which point they had both fallen asleep on the porch. Not that they minded, so long as they were together.


End file.
